Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross. Therefore
God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above
every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
from Philippians 2.5-11
IN THE church where I served my curacy, St Katharine's, Matson,
in the diocese of Gloucester, the same container doubled as
Christmas crib and Easter garden. The theological richness of this
symbol still makes me smile, even though it was for reasons of
storage. Neither manger nor cross is what we might deem fitting for
the one whom Christians proclaim as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords.
The passage I have deliberately chosen for this column as we
celebrate the feast of Christmas is one of the earliest Christian
prayers, and it is one that conjoins the incarnation with the
death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus. St Paul's words at
the beginning of the prayer trip off the tongue, as we have grown
accustomed to their recitation as canticle and creed in Anglican
worship.
What scholars have referred to as the "self-emptying" of God is
for us this Christmas time revealed in the face of the baby. There
is something about a newborn baby which causes even the most
melancholy of us to break into a smile.
On the streets of Holyhead, recently, as children were dressing
up in nativity clothes to be photographed (#tweetthenativity), a
small boy was spontaneously handed his baby sister to hold, and
there was a sudden hush as adults and children alike were
captivated by the wonder of the moment. Wesley's hymn encapsulates
what took place in Bethlehem all those years ago quite
beautifully:
Let earth and heaven combine,
Angels and men agree,
To praise in songs divine
The incarnate Deity,
Our God contracted to a span,
Incomprehensibly made Man.
Delightful though the image of the baby is, the incarnation is
much more than the story of a birth, star, shepherds, animal
feeding-trough, and visitors from afar. It is about the person that
the baby grows into: how he lived, died, and was raised to life for
us.
This Christmas, therefore, I wonder whether we might dare to be
challenged afresh by the human adult that the baby became,
marvelling that he set aside everything in order to serve, offering
us a pattern for living, and even dying for us.
Such a thought disturbs our celebrations, even though, with the
Teacher, we should be able to acknowledge that "there is a time to
be born and a time to die." Paul's prayer goes beyond death into
new life and, with that, to the exaltation of Jesus. This brief
intercession is permeated with numerous theological themes - as
perhaps all prayer is, or should be, even though some of the themes
may be a little out of focus at this time of year.
With Paul, though, as we celebrate Christ's coming, we can do
homage to the Christ-child by offering ourselves to work always to
the glory of God the Father. Or, as Paul puts it elsewhere, by
offering ourselves to be living sacrifices as we work for his
praise and great glory.
The Revd Dr Kevin Ellis is the Vicar of Bro Cybi, in the
diocese of Bangor.